Razors Edge: Redemption
by Mackon
Summary: Au set in the movie Razor. Kendra Shaw's story doesn't end in the Guardians Basestar, that is where it begins. Story Abandoned, No more updates.
1. Prologue

Razors Edge  
Redemption

AU for the nBSG movie.

By Mackon.

Beta testing by bullethead

Don't own anything, certainly not trying to make money off of these.

Prologue

-

Abridged Synopsis of the Final Scene of the nBSG film Razor: Events take place at the same time as Season 2, Episode 18 "Downloaded". Of note Season 2, Episode 19 is the beginning of the New Caprica story arc

A Raptor - carrying a rescue team and a nuclear weapon - jumps past the advancing Raiders and heads for the Basestar. When two enemy fighters spot the Raptor, the crew fakes an engine malfunction and abandons ship with the warhead in tow. The Raiders subsequently destroy the Raptor and break off their attack, believing the crew to be dead. No longer pursued, the team continues on its way by means of thruster packs.

Upon successfully boarding the Basestar, the rescue team locates the room where the science team is being held. While freeing the prisoners, the rescue party is ambushed by Centurions, and Dasilva is critically wounded. As two Centurions drag him away, Major Shaw shoots and kills him, believing that he would have been used by the Cylons for experimentation. Shaw is subsequently shot in the abdomen by one of the Centurions.

Starbuck reveals that the warhead's remote detonator was damaged in the fire fight with the Centurions. The only way to set the warhead off is to do it manually. Reluctantly, Lee orders Starbuck to fulfil this role, and she complies.

Pegasus immediately launches a second Raptor, getting it close enough to the Basestar to land within a hangar bay and to evacuate the rescue team. Starbuck is ready to stay behind when Shaw orders her to leave at gunpoint, intending to detonate the warhead instead. The two argue, but Starbuck eventually concedes, boards the Raptor, and returns to Pegasus with the others.

With blood streaming from her open wound, a delirious Shaw descends deeper into the Basestar, eventually coming across the Hybrid's chamber. The Hybrid knows she wants redemption for her past actions and tells her to come closer, as he has something he needs to tell her. He explains to her that Starbuck will lead mankind to its end, and that they must not follow her. Shaw attempts to contact Pegasus and warn them, but can't deliver the entire message due to Cylon jamming. As Shaw prepares to destroy the ship, the Hybrid calmly addresses that "all this has happened before, and will happen again" repeating "again...again" over and over. Shaw detonates the nuke, destroying the Guardian Basestar, along with herself, the Hybrid, and the entire Centurion crew (Razor).

--ooo000ooo—

_Command Bunker, Guardian Baseship._

_-_

Kendra watched the... 'What did Adama's pet skinjob call it? A 'Hybrid?' Yeah, a Cylon Hybrid.' Unlike a normal skinjob, Hybrids were kind of like a Cylon ship's main computer, handling the navigation and life support, although this one was obliviously more than that.. Watching the Hybrid mumble to himself about "All this has happened before, and will happen again..." over and over again nearly made Kendra hesitate. It was _hard_ not to pity the creature, stuck in its tub, looking like someone's kindly old grandfather.

Then again, she wasn't big on pity.

'Click'

There was a suspicious lack of blinding light, a split second of heat, and the darkness of death.

After a glance at the cobbled together trigger in her hand, Major Kendra Shaw shared a brief look with the ancient Cylon Hybrid, as they both realized they weren't going to die in a nuclear fireball in the next few seconds.

"FRAK!" Kendra frantically reset the pistol grip shaped trigger and snapped the last button shut again.

'Click'

The Guardian Hybrid's eyes lost their focus as he turned his attention from the woman in front of him towards the sea of information that connected his command nexus to the Guardian Basestar and its crew.

A clank of metal on metal sounded from outside the room's door, as Centurions heard the Hybrid's call and heeded its summons.

"Oh, frak me." Kendra could feel the blood trickling down her chest, under her fatigues, from her still bleeding bullet wound. She could barely stand. Gray was starting to cloud the edges of her vision and it took all her concentration to not just collapse to the floor, lay down, and die. The thought of going out that way, so weak and pathetic, brought a vile taste to the back of her throat.

Not her, not here and certainly not now.

The trigger handle made a satisfying crunch as it smashed into the Human/Cylon thing's skull as the bloody, snarling Colonial major hurled herself on top of its emaciated body. The Hybrid's head lolled back into the gel that filled its tub its arms flying up, trying to ward off the woman's attack.

Thrashing and splashing the thick liquid sloshing over the trough's sides, Kendra struggled with the surprisingly strong Hybrid, trying to crush its windpipe with her bare hands. Kendra screamed incoherently as she focused all her remaining strength on death. Her death, the Hybrid's, it didn't matter... all that mattered was that someone was going to die. Images of the people -civilians- she'd killed, or had killed, on the _Scylla_. Admiral Cain shooting Colonel Belzen in the _Pegasus's_ CIC. Images that haunted her to this day flashed through her mind as she wrestled with the being before her.

The Hybrid started a confused whine as Kendra tore at the paper thin skin with her nails and took a bite out of its shoulder with snapping teeth. A knee slipped between the Hybrid's unwisely parted legs and Kendra reflexively snapped in a blow that hadn't been taught in any of her OTS classes.

PAIN! The Hybrid hadn't felt anything like this in decades. It needed the pain to stop right now... it needed to get away...

--ooo000ooo--

Inside the Raptor ferrying the survivors of the rescue mission back to their home Battlestar, Kara Thrace watched the Guardian Basestar, waiting for what she thought was coming. Her thoughts were about Kendra Shaw; on the whole, she'd struck Starbuck as a hell of a bitch, but she was going out in style. 'Got to give her that,' thought Thrace as she felt the seconds tick by, as anxiety wormed its way into her mind. 'When the frak is she going to detonate that nuke?'

The brilliant flash of an FTL jump caught her completely by surprise.

"Damn it!"

--ooo000ooo—

After a second of brutal kicking and punching, the Colonial officer wound up straddling the Hybrid's bony chest, as its claw like hands clutched her wrists. Slowly, it forced her hands away from its throat, breaking the strangle hold she'd obtained in the chaotic melee.

Suddenly, the bulkhead door clanged open as a towering Elite gold Centurion stepped into the room, aiming its sidearm at Kendra's head. Two silver Centurions came in behind it, bearing the "rifles" -in actuality general purpose machine guns- of Cylon ground troops.

The command Centurion's red scanning eye focused on the bloody human, making sure its aim was perfect, trying to minimize the risk to the Hybrid. If it hit the Hybrid, the Basestar would be left adrift in space, until the crew managed to bring the back-up navigation systems online... if they were lucky. Its subordinates flanked it, aiming their heavier rifles at Kendra's body, ready to fire at their superior's command.

"Wait!" The Hybrid croaked, as his whispered voice gained strength and volume for a second. Whether the Hybrid was worried about the Centurion's aim or wanted to tell her more of its prophecies, Kendra didn't know or care. All she saw was an opportunity. In a blur of thoughtless action, she wrenched her right arm free and snatched something small and familiar from a breast pocket.

The folding knife, a memento of Admiral Cain, flicked open, its blade glittering in the room's orange light. Kendra half collapsed, half dove at the Hybrid, blindly swinging the knife at the thing. Its razor sharp blade opened the Hybrid's throat in a quick, smooth cut, pealing back flesh, almost reaching the Hybrid's spine.

It died between one breath and the next, barely having time to even see what killed it before the darkness of death embraced It. Blood gushed into the command pool, turning the pinkish liquid blood red.

Kendra landed on top of the corpse, ending up covered in its blood, along with the thick opaque gel that surrounded it. The fluids soaked through her uniform instantly, seeping into her wounds and mixing with her blood.

She hurt all over, as the pain from the gunshot wounds seemingly spread to every part of her body. From her toes to the tips of her hair, every centimetre throbbed with crippling agony. A strange buzzing clouded her mind, stopping her from thinking straight. Kendra rolled, doing her best to ignore the immense pain the movement created, and pushed the Hybrid's copse over so she could lie straight in the tub. Closing her eyes, she tried to catch her breath, the pain of her laboured breathing searing through her mind.

'Cli-Click.' The sound of a gun being cocked echoed around the metal walled room, until the sound of the other Centurions cocking their rifles joined the cacophony. Kendra slowly turned her head. 'Might as well look my killer in the eye,' she thought grimly.

The bore of the closest gun barrel looked huge and intimidating, especially once she realized she could see the rifling. The Centurion's machine pistol moved slightly, pointing straight between her eyes, in position for a perfect execution shot. She could see the Cylon's eye focused on her, the lack of its usual side to side motion emphasizing the seriousness of this one job.

"NO!" Kendra had no idea why she opened her mouth. Half a second ago, she thought she didn't care if she lived or died. After all, since she took out the old frakker and the nuke was a lost cause, Kendra expected to be on the receiving end of Cylon bullet. She'd won, if not as spectacularly as she'd hoped; what happened to her was irrelevant... or so she thought.

.

'Why isn't it shooting?'  
.

.  
The Centurions lowered their weapons and uttered the last words Kendra or any other human would have thought possible.

.

.  
"**By Your Command**."

-

-

-

TBC


	2. Chapter 1

Razors Edge  
Redemption

AU for the nBSG movie.

By Mackon.

Don't own anything, certainly not trying to make money off of these.

Chapter 1

-

_Command Bunker, Guardian Baseship._

Kendra Shaw had been on the edge of a mental breakdown of some form or another for months now, since the attack on the Colonies. Probably most people who survived were. She'd kept it together while she'd been busy with her duty's but when she'd been transferred to the _Pegasus's_ kitchen and her duty's had been reduced to peeling potatoes she'd quickly fallen apart. Only the drugs letting her keep some thin veneer of a CDF officer.

But this, this was some serious therapy time waiting to happen. Being shocky from blood loss and the fist sized hole blown in her guts was helping, but Lords! this was a one frakked up situation.

The four surviving members of the Guardian Basestars command crew, the Elite Centurions Vulpa, Centuri, Altiz and Mindras stood around the room, watching.

Kendra Shaw tried to keep an eye on the four two metre tall golden armoured robots that seemed to find her the most fascinating thing around at the moment. But they'd spread themselves out when they'd silently filed into the room an hour ago so if she wanted to be able to see more than two at a time she'd need to turn her head. Which considering what the other two Centurions in the room were doing, didn't seem like a good idea. Those two were the more common silver variety, despite their added accessories. She could order the Commanders to move, so she could see them all, but that would mean sticking her mind back into the … THING again, not something she really wanted to do, especially not right now. Unlike the Silver Centurions the Gold Commanders had a tendency to do their own thing, unless she was actively feeling the buzz.

"This is all kinds of sick and twisted, you know that? don't you?" Shaw asked, trying to distract herself. Her normal clipped formal speech was strained, but those listening didn't notice.

Silence.

Kendra had the impression that the Golds were trading confused glances above her head. But the one she could see most clearly Vulpa, didn't move a millimetre and the slow scanning of Its red eye didn't change. Another factoid coming through the link, Kendra guessed. No matter how much she tried to block it out, little bits and pieces seemed to seep through. Letting her know anything from the amount of oxygen in the life supported sections of the ship, to what an anonymous Centurion was doing on damage control.

Either that or she'd started to hallucinate again.

Anyway Kendra could feel the … whatever, question? confusion? bouncing around between them until finally three of the Command Centurions Altiz, Vulpa and Mindras attention seemed to focus on the forth, Centuri. Briefly the Colonial Major wondered who had come up with they're names? The old Hybrid? Had too have been really, but there wasn't any explanation from the computers and from what she could tell they'd so far answered all of her questions if there was anything known.

It was fascinating really, if the whole concept didn't make her want to scream!

"**Data request. Clarify 'sick and twisted' By your command**?" Kendra knew the sudden urged to giggle at the sullen feeling she felt through the link, must have been the drugs, 'Gods alone knew where the Cylon's had gotten them'. Helpfully a list of items recovered from the Raptor she'd come here to rescue the crew of floated through her head, as well as the small med kits from her own and Private Dasilva's field kits, the need to laugh quickly faded.

"This." Kendra nodded slightly, the best she could mange in the way of pointing. "These two with the knifes, they were made to do Gods know what to people and here they are, patching me up like the frakking angels of mercy!"

Her uniform had been cut off, in fact she was completely naked. They'd taken everything except the folding knife she'd managed to hold onto, even her dog tags had been whisked away. That had been before she'd got the hang of pushing her mind into the buzzing link and getting them to do what she said.

Kendra Shaw watched the two Centurion's that had half of their fingers replaced with scalpel like blades or tiny forceps start to sew her stomach up, before deciding now would be a good time to pass out again.

"**Data request. Clarify** ….??" Kendra vaguely heard Centuri say as she faded away.

"**Coordinator Unit is non responsive**." Maybe she was imaging it, but there was a definite feeling of an unsaid 'dumbass' to Vulpa's response.

--ooo000ooo--

The next time Kendra Shaw opened her eyes things were different.

The hybrid room or Command Bunker 06 as it was listed in the ships schematics had been a pigsty resembling a cross between a run down and neglected torture chamber and a grubby mechanics store room, all overlaid with the dull red lighting just to give it that extra creepy feeling. Now it had been cleaned, most of the unidentifiable bits of machinery that had been littered about the corners or had hung precariously from chains attached to the ceiling were gone.

Even the lighting had changed, now a clear white gently illuminated the entire room, which was larger than it had looked with shadows covering everything.

Three doorways, all closed at the moment, the large 3 meter wide armoured bulkhead that she had first come through dominated one wall directly opposite the foot of the pool she was laying in. Two smaller ones, barely wide enough for a single Centurion, were just visibly on the freshly cleaned wall on the other end of the room behind her head.

A pair of 0005 Centurions that seemed to make up the Guardians flanked the main entrance, Silver but with golden pauldrons (1) setting these apart from the others Kendra had seen. The woman barely gave them a glance at first, too interested in the other changes that had been made and telling herself she was used to the things by now, but after a second her gaze snapped back, as she took a better look, and absorbed the picture the two made.

They were well armed, very well armed, so much so it was bordering on the ridiculous. The barrel of one of the rifles she'd seen some carry showed over each robots left shoulder, indicating it was hooked to their backs somehow, one of the over-large machine pistols was holstered on their right hips across from a sheathed short sword and held across their chests was a kind of combination spear axe.. They looked a bit odd.

Focusing on them Kendra could almost taste their minds as they blurred with furious activity.

That was another thing that was different. Before the Cylon computer net she could feel through the link had been buzzing like a disturbed hornets nest, but now while still loud and busy, it was more ordered and seemed to be moving with a purpose.

And she couldn't shut it out at all. While she had been unconscious it had flowed into every nook and cranny of her mind and she could no more stop it than she could not look out her open eyes or listen through her ears.

Even a split second of mild interest drowned her in a sea of information. The two Centurions on guard duty were deep into training simulations learning to competently use the long metal spear/axes (which were apparently called halberd's (2) and were something the Cylon's had dug up from Kobolian pre-history) while at the same time guarding her from any threat and waiting on her in case she had any orders she didn't feel like passing through the computers directly to a Cylon or through the internal communication relays, both of which were accessible through the link.

And why were her guards equipped with antiquated melee weapons? Because it was appropriate for the Imperial Guard, that's why.

The Guardian Cylons and especially the Gold armoured Command Centurions had apparently put a lot of thought into how things would and should be if their Hybrid hadn't as they'd thought of it "malfunctioned". Once they'd had free access to Kendra they'd decided to put their plans into motion.

Even as the idea of her mind being awash with the thoughts of the nearly four thousand Cylon's revolted her, the experience itself was fascinating. Kendra had been unconscious for 53 hours and seemed to be healing at a remarkable rate, someone looking at the wound in her stomach would have guessed it had happened weeks, maybe a month ago instead of just over two days

It was a hot topic for debate and speculation among the six specialist Centurions in Biological Research that were in charge of Kendra's medical needs. Apparently the old Hybrid had taken longer than an average human to heal from injury. It was being widely hailed as more proof of her superiority among the crew. Others watched them like the audience at a tennis match, their attention bouncing back and forth as each new point was raised and discussed.

Elsewhere other Cylon minds were focused on ship repairs and maintenance something that seemed to have been neglected for decades on the old Hybrids orders. 37 Raiders and 111 Centurions had been destroyed in the recent battle and many minds were concentrating on fabricating new Centurion body's or the assembly of Raiders from stores to replace them. One of the Centurions destroyed had been Ged the Command Centurion who'd been the Guardian Basestar's Commander Air Group and the other Command Centurions were talking about choices among the crew to promote into the hole and preform the delicate operation of melding a second CPU into Its AI core, which was apparently the difference between a Centurion and a Command Centurion. It was a dangerous and tricky upgrade with nine in ten not being able to adapt and their AI cores becoming unstable and crashing. The Command Centurions were weighing the pros and cons of each of their subordinates, the risk of losing trusted and competent underlings, versus the benefits of those Centurions with the added skills of a Command Centurion. Age and experience also played a key part in their deliberations as although there was no hard and fast rule, as a statistical trend, those Centurions who'd been around the longest and had the widest range of experiences tended to survive more often than those straight from the factories.

Kendra felt each of the Command Centurions become aware of her. Each felt her attention through the link, although she had the feeling that what they sensed was a very pale shadow compared to her experience, but they felt her and knew she was awake. All four reacted simultaneously dropping their other duties, coming to the Command Bunker to report to her in person. Already organizing their thoughts to brief her on the state of the ship and detail the tactical and strategic intelligence they had been able to gather while she was unconscious. Behind that each was wondering how to best impress her and to bring up the question of which among them would be promoted.

It was all understandable, in a bizarre way. Even if she could hardly believe it had really happened like that, instead of much more realistic outcome of one freshly promoted Major Kendra Shaw getting killed. She seemed to have through Gods alone knew what reserve of incredible luck, something she'd never noticed much in her life until this point, landed on her metaphysical feet.

Yes everything was possible if very, very unlikely. She could look over the chain of events from when she was first shot until right now and say "Yes it could have happened like that."

That each and every Cylon on this Basestar were thinking of her as Imperious Leader? not so much.

--ooo000ooo--

Kendra had already seen, heard and she was a little worried smelt, touched and tasted everything they had to tell her before the closest was halfway to her. She hesitated for a second, she already knew what they meant to tell her and it wasn't like she enjoyed their company. Some combination of fear, instinct and experience kept her from ordering the four Command Centurions back to their work and the Hades away from her.

Fear of revealing just how much access the Link gave her. It was obvious even with only the short time she'd used it that while Cylons swam through the sea of information with incredible native skill and had a relationship with the data and code beyond anything someone restricted to a computer screen and keyboard could hope for, it was still nothing compared to what she experienced. They were Sharks and Barracuda superbly adapted to live and flourish in their environment. But in the Link she was the ocean and the fish were as transparent as glass. If Kendra concentrated she could actually see or feel or whatever …. She could experience the billions upon billions of infinitesimal pieces of insanely dense machine code. It was all but incomprehensible now, but second to second it became less alien. If she relaxed and just let it flow, without trying to study it, just let herself be swept along in the higher levels where the Cylons operated, it was all as familiar as the daily newspaper.

Kendra didn't understand it, although she'd learnt a fair amount about computers and programming in training that had been was child's play compared to what was happening here.

Instinct and experience were harder to define, but what it came down to was morale. The crew of this ship as hard at it was for Kendra to believe were on tender hooks waiting to see what she'd do next. They'd had gone through a lot of changes in the last few days and to Kendra who could test the feeling (If you could call what Cylons did, feeling) of every crew member they felt shaky, unsteady. While they were all one hundred percent behind their Imperious Leader they were still unsure about the future. The simple routine of reports and deliberations by their leadership and especially by their new Hybrid would reassure them. Even if the vast majority wouldn't ever be privy to what was discussed and decided, just that the normal procedure carried on would help steady them.

As Kendra's thoughts followed the four members of her command crew as they made their way towards her she let the information they carried flow over her.

Every moment Kendra spent in the Link it changed her presence acting as drop of dye slowly colouring all it touched as it spread out. But as she changed it so Kendra Shaw was being changed she could feel it, nothing concrete, nothing she could point to and say there look what it has done but all the same the Link was having an effect.

It was a race really between who could change who the fastest.

Despite her doubts and fears this was an opportunity, a huge and powerful one, for a second she wondered what Admiral Cain would have done in her situation, if a battleship full of loyal Cylons had fallen into her lap? But the thought drifted away before she'd really considered it.

What was more important was what would Kendra Shaw do?

--ooo000ooo--

_Command Bunker, Guardian Basestar._

"No scout ships? At all?" Kendra couldn't quite believe it, you just didn't get capital ships without scouts, certainly not capital ships the size of the Guardian Basestar. It may not be quite the size of one of the new generation Type 2 Cylon behemoths but it easily rivalled a Colonial Battlestar. To have no scouting ability cut the ships usefulness in half, at least.

**"Scout units were classed surplus to mission needs by High Command for prototype test bed unit Basestar Upgrade."** Vulpa the Pilot

"Prototype test bed unit Basestar Upgrade? That's this ships official designation?"

**"Affirmative."** Centuri the Marine

"Not any more, this is the Basestar Redemption from now on."

**"By Your Command Imperious Leader."** All together perfect unison, it was like the practised.

"Well if we haven't got any dedicated scouts, what have we got in the way of FTL capable small craft?"

**"The Redemption roster comprises three Landers and two Cargo transporters. These were dispatched with 80 Centurion units under Command Centurion Uytrix to establish a supply base on Planetoid 483-MSD when sufficient deposits of Tylium and metal suitable for construction were identified per standard long deployment protocol. The Hybrid at the time ordered them permanently assigned to the base and never approved their replacement. A Cargo transporter makes a supply run to the Redemption previous location every 6 months."** Centuri again.

"When is the next one due?"

**"Supply shipment scheduled in two months, four day, nine hours."** Still Centuri.

"Ok how about this base, could we requisition some support craft from there? Have you worked out our position yet? How far are we away did the Hybrids blind jump put us? Could we make it in one jump."

**"Negative, minimum of four jumps to star system MSD."** Altiz the Navigator.

Kendra ran some numbers through her head. She of course already knew exactly where the Hybrids panicked blind jump had dropped them, it had left them further back along the RTF back trail, but some ways out towards deep space away from the old Colonial/Cylon territories. It would take approximately three jumps to intersect the _Pegasus_/_Galactica _Fleets intended course and then who knows how many to catch up and find them. A job made dramatically harder by not having scout ships. So it was a question of would it be better to fall even further behind the fleet but hopefully get the proper tools to find it, or go look now in the hopes of getting lucky while they were still close and still in a relatively small search area. Every second Kendra let them get further away upped the chance they veer off the course they'd been planning on. Another worry was how eager the Cylons at the base would be to join her.

"Wait you said the old Hybrid wouldn't let you build replacements for the Landers and cargo haulers, if he had given the go ahead, did you have the FTL drives, or would you need the base to supply them?"

**"The **_**Redemption**_** carries eight replacement Cyberdyne 33-YP sublight engines, eight replacement Cyberdyne 24a-YP FTL drives and Ten Class B Artificial Gravity generation drive in stores for the maintenance and upkeep of its small craft support ships. Also two hundred Cyberdyne 33-FB sublight engines and two hundred Class D Artificial Gravity generation were stocked before the losses of the recent battle were made up."** Mindras the Engineer.

"Right and we've got the wrecked Raptor as well, that gives us some room. Altiz, you plot a course heading for the coordinates I'll give you."

**"By Your Command."** Altiz. This time Elite Centurion did an old style Caprican salute right arm across chest palm flat to Its shoulder.

"Vulpa, Centuri, Mindras you guys and the crew in engineering are going to help me design and build some scout ships for when we arrive. It was always a favourite hobby for cadets back at the academy."

**"By Your Command, Imperious Leader."** They certainly liked saying that.

Not that there was a lot of design work involved, they were all prefabricated parts pulled straight off the shelf except the hull after all. It was just a matter of arranging them all in the most efficient way. It went quickly with only minor disagreement and conflicting ideas. Probably the worst was when the entire design team, including the three attending Command Centurions, wanted the things pressurised and with full life support. Just in case any of the craft were ever needed as escape ships for they're Imperious Leader.

Work went quickly, by the time the first two jumps had been completed a rough design was fleshed out and Kendra was starting to feel tried. She ordered the Centurions to continue without her and tried to sleep. A new experience while tied into the Link, briefly she wondered what they'd make of any dreams or nightmares she might have, but despite appearances the pool was pretty comfortable and she soon drifted off.

--ooo000ooo--

The newly renamed _Redemption_ had been built as proof of concept for several innovations designed to upgrade the aging double disk 1st Generation Basestars.

While it did have the splayed three armed starfish adopted by the newest model of Basestar the Guardians model was still obviously a machine and a heavily armed and armoured one at that. While the newer ships were a organic reminiscent black, here was still the distinctive silvery alloy of the old double disk design. The hulls weren't balanced however, unlike either its predecessor or replacement, the upper hull had the three reaching arms but the lower was shortened until the arms barely reached passed the large disc.

The main saucer like hull fused with a Y shaped brace of wider pylons 1440 metres long 1220 metres wide and 520 metres high holding the massive drive bay supporting the twinned reaction sublight Engines as well as the Primary FTL Drive. The forward section dominated by one Hangar dedicated to larger ships opening to the outside with three entrances two on either side of the rearmost pylon while the third opened through the base. All were normally secured and covered by four metre thick reinforced armoured doors. The two forward facing pylons housed the ships Gravity Generation Drives that worked in concert with the ships sublight Engines. Above the main hull was the ships spine connecting the main and secondary hull the 400 metre wide cylinder was hugely armoured and structurally reinforced. Not only to support the incredible stresses put on it by the two hulls even in atmospheric flight but because it had been noted that Colonials seemed to target this area as a high priority despite it being one of the most heavily armoured parts of a Basestar. The secondary hull loomed over the primary, a giant three armed steel starfish, each arm1200 metres long 440 metres wide and 500 metres in height crossing an area 2400 metres long and 2000 metres wide. Housing the two Raider dedicated Hangars, troop berths, huge storage bays the primary and secondary CICs, and the command bunkers the two secondary Gravity Generation Drives and two secondary FTL drives.

60 dual-cannon turrets protected the three arms of the upper hull, 5 protruding slightly top and bottom on each. The lower hull and central column held the Basestar's missile arsenal, 24 anti-capship launchers. Anti-fighter and point defence turrets were set to cover every angle of approach with overlapping arks of fire.

The journey was taken in careful steps the Primary FTL was taken off line after the emergency jump and was now under going the best service the crew could provide away from a dock. The two secondary were treated with kid gloves, spooled up slowly let acclimatise to the energies of full rotation then allowed to cool down with a mandatory thorough system check and visual inspection between each jump.

Mindras was undoubtedly the busiest sentient on the _Redemption_. Altiz and the navigator's alpha shift took care of flying the ship, but most of the rest of bridge crews had been drafted to Maintenance. The same was true with Vulpa's pilots, all but the Rapid Response Squadron and Combat Air Patrol were working with their deck crews and most of Centuri troops were servicing and repairing cannon and missile launchers rather than standing duty, ready to fire them.

Major repairs had been finished before Kendra woke the first time, but work on everything else was still going strong. There was a lot to do, not only the damage the _Redemption_ had taken in its brief run in with the _Pegasus_ but the accumulated wear and tear from forty years of neglect was being corrected. The massive ship's stores of spare parts was shrinking quickly and machine shops and plastic/ceramic fabricators were running non stop, reworking worn out equipment or rendering down anything unsalvageable. With the tool to build or install replacements just as old as the rest of the ship and just as prone to breakdowns as anything else, work slowed to crawl at times. But the Centurion true to their natures, kept a gruelling pace and steadily the _Redemption_ was set to rights.

The deck above main engineering had been set aside on the blue prints to house a Legion of 5000 Centurions in the ships planetary assault configuration. Something had yet to be implemented; now it had been turned into a makeshift construction yard for the Imperious Leader's, ordered, scout class Corvettes. Drives, electronics and weapons were being installed into skeleton like frames while nearby welders flashed as pieces of the _Redemptions_ own light 3cm thick armour. It the lightest gauge the _Redemption_ used in its layered passive defence but the tough ceramic and alloy composite would give the small ships a sturdiness rarely seen in ships of their size.

When Kendra had first ordered the Corvette project she hadn't quite realised what she had to work with. The components needed were designed for a Basestar not a smallcraft and while Basestars didn't waste space exactly, other concerns like redundancy durability even serviceability often took precedents over compactness.

The Cyberdyne 33-YP sublight drive that would serve as the main reaction engine was one meter sixty centimetres wide and five long, three secondary units were needed to balance the big powerhouse as the 33-YP was designed to move much more mass than was needed for a small scout ship. The 24a-YP FTL drive was almost as big as the 33-YP and sprouted the ten centimetre thick induction cables that ran the entire length and breadth of the ship. A suit of ten Raider sized manoeuvring thrusters and three Raider sized fuel bunkers plus the anti gravity drive and the gravity generators made the engineering section alone already the size and mass that the whole ship had been first envisioned at. Adding in the large central coil gun, the four Raider cannons, two sets of duo fire auto loading missile racks and the fourteen point defence turrets all needing their own ammunition stores. Then came the DRADIS assembly, electronic countermeasures and their hardware counterparts chaff dispensers and decoys, the cockpit and control runs, life support and landing gear.

And that was just the major subsystems.

What had been planned as a slightly more useful Raptor able to take a few hits and be a credible threat, maybe 10 metres long and 3 or 4 metres wide, had blown out to be a small battleship. At the end of the process the final dimensions were 26 meters long and 8 metres wide and the word 'Light' had been dropped from it designation.

On the plus side it was a lot roomier then first thought and the central cabin between engine room and cockpit had fittings added so a small troop of 12 Centurions or a Landram could be carried.

It also looked like a brick that someone had tried unsuccessfully to make look sleek and aerodynamic.

Still simulations run predicted it would serve its purpose. A scout, able to survive most situations, from heavy combat to materialising in the middle of a astroid field, long enough to retreat and inform the _Redemption_.

Even if the parts were less than ideal the use of off the shelf components meant fast construction, only the Hulls needed to built from start to finish and the armour some reworking. 20 hours after Kendra Shaw fell into her first natural sleep since she set foot on the ship Corvette 001 was complete and 7 others were rapidly coming together around it.

Before another could be completed Altiz announced the next FTL jump. Here on this deck nothing changed but throughout the rest of the ship Centurions that had been transferred to maintenance downed and secured tools and returned to their normal duties. Jumping into the unknown was no time to have most of the crew scattered about in various service ducts.

--ooo000ooo--

Waking up with the alarms screaming and the frakking red lighting back again wasn't fun at all. Kendra reached out through the link to find out what was going on. It was even easier than before.

The _Redemption_ had just completed its fourth jump and they had appeared just over two thousand kilometres above and behind a group of three Type Two Basestars it looked like the Cylons were already launching Raiders.

Kendra Shaw filled the link aware of her Cylons reacting Vulpa was in Its Raider running through pre-flight getting ready to launch. Centuri was in the auxiliary CIC overseeing the Redemption's weapon systems. Altiz was in the central CIC ordering flank speed and plotting an evasive course to try and keep them away from the Type Twos missiles and swarms of fighters. Mindras was in engineering reorganizing Its work crews into damage control teams and brining the stand bye DRD's online. It would be four minutes before the Redemptions massive old FTLs could spool up for another jump.

The whole virtual landscape of the Link quaked, a command, alien and jagged cut across the Guardian Cylons collective like a knife '_**STOP**_' '_**SHUTDOWN**_' '_**OBEY**_' and they were, almost as one. Only the Command Centurions lagging slightly behind, the small brightly burning presences that had represented the crew to Kendra froze like dear caught in headlights and slowly started to fade. All over the ship Centurions staggered. Some fell clattering to metal decks others caught themselves and stayed upright as they struggled with the overwhelming pressure. Red eyes started to dim.

'_**STOP**_' '_**SHUTDOWN**_' '_**OBEY**_' it beat down on Kendra Shaw like nothing she'd ever experienced, like the gravity controls had gone haywire from a single gravity to a thousand in the blink of an eye, smothering and crushing her down. She could hardly breathe and her thoughts, seconds ago like lighting, now struggled through a sludge of grasping molasses.

'_**STOP**_' '_**SHUTDOWN**_' '_**OBEY**_'

--ooo000ooo--

_Command Nexus Basestar PF38_

Number One felt shock role through the command interface as his guess was confirmed it was the Ancients ship, it boggled the mind to run into any of the handful of redundant Cylons who'd fled the reconfiguring but this one? The odds must be astronomical. Immediately he questioned that thought they we're here as a resupply mission to the fleet following the fleeing human rabble formed up around the Battlestars _Galactica_ and _Pegasus_ there were virtually no other reasons to be in this area of space. But why would the Ancient be looking for the humans? He, as far as Number One knew, had totally rejected all things both Human and Cylon.

What had changed for him to seek them out?

"It's really him, after all these years." The Number Six on duty with him whispered in a near reverent tone and One snorted contemptuously at the awe in her voice. "They said he left to contemplate the universe! What he could tell us One! We've got to talk to him."

"The shutdown codes are running smoothly Six, the adapted algorithms are working. It's slower than we hoped for, but after the Ancient bolted and broke the Great Reconfiguration it was re-coded especially for him and this time it seems to be doing the job." Number One answered deflecting the question slightly. There was no chance in the hell he didn't believe in that he was letting a bunch of religious hysterics like the Sixes sit at the feet of an experiment gone wrong like the Ancient and soak up his 'wisdom'. Or heaven help him the bloody Two's could catch wind of it. Those fools were already half way to worshipping the Hybrids. Thankfully his little fleet was mostly crewed by Fours, Fives, Sixes and Eights with only a minority of Twos and Threes.

Still it would be best to know what the creature thought it was doing here, before drawing a line under this little piece of history.

"Of course Six we'll need to have a long talk with the Ancient. Apart from all else I want to know what he's doing here so close to the humans trail." While he was talking his hands was already in the trough making some quick crew reassignments. "We need to get boarders over there to secure that ship."

The Six agreed placing her own hand next to his and joining him in ordering boarding party across to the now drifting prototype Basestar to take control and survey what they'd caught.

Ten Heavy Raiders undocked and lifted off from each of the three Type Two Basestars each burning for one of the prototypes hangars. Each one carried ten drone Centurions and a crew of three BioCylons. Three hundred troops even if they were the new improved Centurions, more than a match for the obsolete model 0005's they expected to find, would still be profoundly outnumbered and over matched by the thousands strong crew of such an old style Basestar. But there would be no need the deactivation overrides had worked nothing was functioning on their target any more all they needed was to land and take possession.

--ooo000ooo--

_Imperial Basestar Redemption_

'_**STOP**_'

"no."

'_**SHUTDOWN**_'

"No!"

'_**OBEY**_'

"NO!"

'_**STOP**_' '_**SHUTDOWN**_' '_**OBEY**_'

-

"**No**"

-

-

A/N

(1) Pauldron Armour to Cover the shoulder (with a dome shaped piece called a shoulder cop), armpit and sometimes the back and chest.  
(2) The halberd consists of an axe blade topped with a spike mounted on a long shaft. It always has a hook or thorn on the back side of the axe blade.


	3. Authors Note

I'm officially drawing a line under this story, there will be no more updates, just can't seem to manage to write anything in character for the Centurions. –shrugs-

If anybody wants to take it over or do their own version please feel free.


End file.
